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FC Barcelona end transfer market with 24 changes

Vice-president Jordi Mestre and director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta have reviewed an exceptionally active summer on the transfer market
“I'd give this squad 10 out of 10" said Mestre. "And at the end of the season I hope to give it 11"
“We have the squad we wanted in order to compete”, commented Zubizarreta

The transfer market has closed, meaning the 2014/15 squad is now complete and after an extraordinarily busy summer, the vice-president for sport, Jordi Mestre, and the director of football, Andoni Zubizarreta, were able to discuss a variety of topics with the press.

Mestre explained how they have responded to president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s requirement for the squad to be completely overhauled. “We’ve restructured in depth” he explained. “It’s the biggest reshuffle in club history, with 24 changes in all”.The summer transfer market started for us in the spring Zubizarreta described how the process began way back in April, when Tata Martino told them that he did not plan to continue serving as first team manager: “The summer transfer market started for us in the spring”, he said, before going on to speak about each of the players that have been signed from other clubs (Ter Stegen, Rakitic, Bravo, Mathieu, Luis Suárez, Vermaelen and Douglas), promoted from the reserves (Masip), recovered from loan (Rafinha and Deulofeu), transferred to other clubs (Cesc, Alexis, Dos Santos, Bojan and Oier) or loaned (Tello, Denis Suárez, Deulofeu, Afellay and Song), as well as those whose contracts expired (Valdés and Pinto), were terminated (Cuenca) or voluntarily ended (Puyol). Not forgetting the arrival of Luis Enrique, who Zubizarreta says “complies with the requirements of understanding the way we play and being courageous enough to accept this challenge”.We have taken our time and thought carefully about what we were planning The director of sport is convinced that the changes “will make the fans proud of the team again. We are where we want to be. The situation and the squad are right to get us back competing again … We believe we have been conscientious with this planning, we have taken our time and thought carefully about what we were doing.” Mestre added that “I’d give this squad ten out of ten, and by the end of the season hope to be able to give it eleven”.

Zubizarreta also highlighted the importance of the players that are staying on at Barça, quoting a recent article in Barça Magazine that said “what matters most about any change is what persists … And what persists is a club, a way of playing, and most of all the huge amount of talent that we have in our first team … We are all faced by the challenge of getting back to our very best.” And that’s not forgetting the players in the reserve team that Luis Enrique can always call upon. “Last year I described Barça B as a very young team” said Zubi. “But this year they’ve all grown up and should be able to help us a lot more”.